A Strange World - Mona Hakimi-Schüler

A Strange World
On the Art and Imagery of
Mona Hakimi-Schüler
Text by Hannah Jacobi

In the studio
Mona Hakimi-Schüler's studio in Berlin is located in a remote industrial
area in a building where several artists joined forces to turn the top
floor into art studios. Upon entering her studio, I find myself before an
enormous lion, roaringin my direction.Turning around, Isee a similarly
massive horse lying onthe floor. To myleft are huge, colourfulcanvases
where, aside from a single female figure wearinga headscarf and a coat,
animals populatethe pictures:a raven,a phoenix,horses, and,again, the
lion. These are not only animals in their natural form and expression.
Also includedare animalsand figurestaken fromPersian miniature,such
as the Elysian cavalier, angelic figures, horses, monkeys, and birds as
they appear in the traditional Persian ornament gol-o-morgh or gol-obolbol
(birds and flowers). Another thread running through Mona's work
that iscatching myeye arestylized trees,plants, flowersand clouds,also
adapted from Persian miniature painting. In addition to this diversity
leaps another series of motifs: Soldiers and military equipment such
as guns, tanks, and helicopters; contemporary representations of holy
Shiite figures; religious flagswith bright, colourful writing;architectural
structures, ranging from contemporary urban forms to seemingly
ancient, Islamic architectures covered in Persian ornament, writing and
calligraphy. These figures, motifs, and structures all gather against a
background of cityscapes and vast, empty landscapes.
Huge canvasesare leaningagainst thewalls ofher studio,big sculptures,
parts of cloths, a considerable collection of drawings, small objects.
The diversity that characterizes the use of motifs in Mona's work

is also present in the various formal approaches in her art. There are
canvases that combine painting, drawing, and collage.Smaller drawings
on the one hand prepare the installations and on the other represent
a part of the larger work. Sculptures made of foam are integrated in
expansive installations, set in front of wall-drawings and compilations
of small drawings. And a format that the artist calls “Raumbild”. The
literal translation of this German word is stereogram. However, I would
describe it as an image or picture that develops a presence beyond its
two-dimensional surface and exceeds the boundaries of the canvas. It is
in fact a sort of relief that looses contact with its background and thus
becomes independent. These “spatial images”, as one might call them,
represent the evidentdirection or canbe considered asynergy of Mona's
oeuvre up to this point of her artistic evolution, as it brings together the
variety of her formal approaches as well as yet another combination of
motifs that have appeared in her former works.
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In this essay and analysis of Mona's art, I will focus onthe development
and constitution of her work while studying the trajectory of her
artistic approach to date. I will examine the broad range of motifs and
objects as they appear and explore how they merge and link with one
another to constitute new meanings. I will dissect the significance of
the artist's “alter ego” and her use of animal imagery and interrogate
her employment of collage and Persian writing as well as ornament.
Through theseexplorations, Iwill arriveat aninterpretation ofbeauty in
her work. Finally, Mona's identity as an artist of Iranian descent will be
contextualized while taking into account the reception of her work and

the cultural realm in which she exhibits her art.
I will start with an examination of Stories I live by, a series of canvases
and drawings that Mona produced between 2010 and 2012. There is a
reason why I start with this series: I will argue that it forms the core of
Mona's oeuvre up to date in the sense that the earlier works somehow
leaduptoitandthatitservesasastartingpointformostofthevariations
of motifs and forms that are following, to the point of her most recent
works.
StoriesIliveby-Farewell,
oilandcollageoncanvas,
200×240cm
Of the larger canvases, Farewell is an earlier composition that depicts
sceneryinfrontofacityscape,onethatappearstoberealisticandsurreal
at once. A female figure, wearing a brown coat and blue headscarf with
a white,traditional Persianpattern (typicalof femaleattire inIran) walks
towards the viewer, pulling a trolley suitcase. She turns her head to the
right,seeminglylookingback,thusfacinganoversizedraventhatlingers
in the air as if about to land. Near the raven towards the left side of the
picture is a stump that elegantly extends towards the raven – this stump

appears in other pictures too. Its stylizedand elegant form indicates that
the stump's image is an adaption of Persian miniature painting in which
it appearsrepeatedly asone ofthe stylizedelements ofa landscape.There
is a sort of spatial uncertainty present in the composition, combining
the woman, the raven and the stump, brought on by the unfitting size
of the figures and objects in relation to each other. This ambivalence is
enhanced by their precarious position in the image-space, the halting
movements of the walking woman and that of the flying raven. In
addition, the image-components in the intermediate ground of the
picture emphasizethis spatialambiguity: Here,we seeplanes, orbarriers,
pushed into the picture between the foreground and the background.
They are not objects, nor are they architectural structures, even if they
fulfil a similar function in the picture. They are not painted like the
rest, but included as collage. Originally, the two planes are flags with
religious motifs and writings as used in Iran during the many holidays
that mourn the death of Shiite saints. The black background, the white
and red writing, and a black and yellow image on one of the flags form
a contrast against the rest of the picture in which colours are attenuated
with whitein orderto reducetheir shiningbrightness. Inthe background
of thepainting, theupper portionof arow ofapartment housesis visible,
upon which Persian writing is recognizably inscribed on one wall. The
sky above the cityscape is sombre and corresponds to the tonality of the
whole picture that varies between muted shades of blue, brown, yellow,
and grey, interrupted only by the brighter colours and contrast of the
religious flags.
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SeveralimportantelementsappearinFarewell,whichwewillseerepeated
in other pictures of the series as well as in other works and which will
give us some understanding of Mona's artistic approach.

The “alter ego”

Helden-taten,
foam,latex,oilandacrylic
paint,crayon,marker,
paintingboardandcanvas,
corner:240x320cm
(leftwall)and
240x380cm(rightwall)
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First Iwill addressthe treatmentof thefemale figureas wesee itnot only
inStoriesIliveby,butalsointhepreviousseriesHelden-taten(2009-2010).
Going back toher earlier worksSelf-portraits (2007),Abig family (2007-
2008), andMemory trace(2008), onecan detectthe constantemployment
of her own background,family and origins, andimages of her childhood
and youth in Iran. In Self-portraits, Mona directly addresses questions
of her own Iranian identity as a woman by confronting the viewer with
different appearancesof herselfin variouspartly Islamicclothing. Onthe
other hand, she focuses in A big family andMemory trace on images of
her family as well as those ofher childhood – family members, vignettes
of family life and street-life in Tehran, TV and other media-images, and
images used in religious contexts. Mona entwines this rather personal
approach with questions of image-representation in private and public
(media-) contexts,image andmemory inthe contextof notonly personal
but also cultural representation, as well as modes of narration that are
playfully varied in the display and arrangements of the pictures that she
calls “wall installation”.
Helden-taten(detail)

We can see this personal approach mixed with other, more external,
not so personal images continued in Helden-taten, where the figure
in the brown coat and the blue and white headscarf already appears.
Here, the artist's “alter ego”, as I would call it, is moved from the very
personal space of the artist's memories to the reflective space of the city
(Tehran) in which fantasies, politics and culture reside, are depicted and
narrated. Even though the personal aspect of experience and memory
remains, otheraspects suchas culturalmemory, media-representationsof
manifestations andoppression, aswell asthe imaginaryfigure ofthe lion
join the image and narrative space of these “ensembles”.
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Furthermore, back in Stories I live by, the “alter ego” dominates most
of the compositions, but is at the same time slowly withdrawn from the
pictures untilshe totallydisappears. Togetherwith thelion, thehorse, the
ravenorotheranimalfigures,the“alterego”walks,sits,andkneelswithin
the imagespace thathas becomemore uncertain,more surreal,and more
imaginary, watching and waiting, strangely displaced, but at the same
time showing us her inner world. It is this inner world, experience and
memory, imagination and dream, anxieties and hopes,miniature-images
and media-images, that expands throughout the pictures of the series
with regard to both content and form.

A world of animals
StoriesIliveby-
Expectation,
oilandcollageoncanvas,
200×240cm
Secondly, animals are populating Mona's work: The raven, lingering
prominently in the middle of the picture Farewell is just one of the
various animal-companions of the female figure that appear throughout
the series: horses, monkeys, mystical birds, and, most prominently, the
lion. Animals have been included in visual arts since antiquity, serving
as the “other” of human self-perception, the non-human, as well as a
projection screen for emotions, as symbols of virtues and vices, etc. 1 It
has only been in the second half the 20 th century, however, that the
animal-human relationship moved to another level of engagement and
emotional bonding, leaving behind the rather one-sided relation of
animal-figuration as projection screen for the human part in the human
realm. 2 In miniature painting, animals appear most prominently in an
ancient collection of animal tales. Originally coming from India, the
Kalilah va Dimnah had been translated into an early Persian dialect in
the 6 th century. The tales, still popular today, in which animals serve
as protagonists that perform political pieces of wisdom, have been
illustrated in many different illuminated editions. 3 Could these be a

source for Mona's animal-depictions? They certainly are an inspiration
for the prominent role animals play in her artistic world.
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StoriesIliveby-
TriumphIII,
oilandcollageoncanvas,
200×240cm
The animals fulfil diverse functions in Mona's work, play different
roles, and come from various sources. They seem to function as
figurative depictions of the “alter ego's” emotional state, while setting
the atmosphere of the picture, its content and expression. They stand
independent, at thesame time integratedand disintegrated inthe imagenarration
–a “stateof beingin thepicture” thatis notonly tobe ascribed
to theanimals, butalso tothe femalefigure, andto allother components
of the pictures. On the one hand the animals are closely linked to each
other through the composition. On the other hand they stand alone and
isolated. In Farewell, the raven hovering in the air at the same time
imitates and contradicts the female figure's movement of departure. In
Expectation, thelion quietlysleeps besidethe seatedfigure andenhances
the halted moment of expectation, hinted at in the title. In Triumph III,
the horse lies on the ground, mirroring the death and mourning that is
illustrated in the female figure kneeling beside the horse. And finally,

when the artist's “alter ego” is withdrawn from the picture as in Gate of
Heaven II, theanimals seem totake her positionas the sourceand centre
of the narrative as well as of the composition: The roaring lion stands
alone in front of a crowded scenery of soldiers, Elysian cavaliers, big
structures with calligraphy and ornament, and a huge rising sun.
StoriesIliveby-
GateofheavenII,
oilandcollageoncanvas,
200×240cm
Let's have a closer look at the animal's role in Mona's previous work
Helden-taten, an ensemble of paintings and drawings of various
dimensions arranged on the wall, and one life-sized foam sculpture. The
above described personification and transformation of the animal into
a key figure of the work has already taken place here. In the drawings
and paintings that cover the walls of a corner in this ensemble, the lion
accompanies the artist's “alter ego” in scenes that recall manifestations.
He roars at soldiers, is thrown intoa cage, and his massive figure lieson
the groundin frontof thepictures, piercedby arrows,dead. Hopelessness
seems to be the key notion of the work, embodied in the dead lion. The
embodiment of this key moment through the lion's figure corresponds
to its appearance in sculpture, as if it has left the image-space in order

to substantiate its presence and role. This presence is further enhanced
in the work Dreaming the past (2012-2013) as well as in the newest
work, the aforementioned “Raumbild” Head in clouds (2014-2015), in
which the artist's “alter ego” rarely appears. The animals – painted on
canvas, emerging as a relief, or in the form of a sculpture – take over to
orchestrate the imaginary world of the works.
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In Dreaming the past a horse takes on the main role in Mona's imagery,
presenting itself outside of the painted, or better drawn, image space.
Here, a compilation of smaller drawings with colour is arranged before
thebackgroundofabigwall-drawingingreyshadesbehindthesculpture.
The role the horse embodies in this work appears to be less explicit
than the lion in Helden-taten. The quite big figure seems to be resting
peacefully, even dreaming. Whereas the peaceful image is also taken up
in one of the central drawings on the wall behind (where actually also
the artist's “alter ego” appears once more), the other drawings depict a
less peaceful scenery: horses standing or running in between military or
police men who drag people around, a flock of horses running wild, a
lying horse pierced by metal stakes. The figure of the horse as sculpture
as well as in the drawings is, scene by scene, directly taken from
miniature illuminations of the Shahnameh, Ferdowsi's famous Book of
Kings. The horse Rakhsh is a courageous and truthful companion to the
hero Rostam until it dies tragically in a pit, pierced by metal stakes. The
contextoftheancienttales–broadenedbyyetanotherfigureoriginating
from mythological miniature painting, demons – is at the same time
contrasted and complemented by images of statesmen and generals,

Dreamingthepast,
foam,latex,acrylicpaint,
crayon,marker,paper
andcanvas,
height:230cm,
width:420cm,
depth:270cm

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Dreamingthepast(detail)
images apparently from the past from the time of the Iranian revolution
in 1979,which minglewith thefamiliar representationsof contemporary
cityscapes. Also the scenein the background inthe wall-drawing is both
corresponding andcontradicting theimage ofthe peaceful,dreamy horse
as sculpture, but does not help to clear the situation: What could be a
contemporary scene in the city centre of Tehran shows people sitting
on sand bags, perhaps barricades. But instead of carrying weapons, the
young people are sitting, resting, even dreaming? The horse seems to
wait with them, in the middle of a crossroad, surrounded by cars. It
takes us as theviewers with it intoa setting where weimmerse in scenes
that combine ancient tales and mythology, a historical Iranian past and
the present time of the spectator, us. The seemingly relaxed and dreamy
entrance soon turns into an atmosphere of disturbing ambivalence,

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threat, and violence.
The rather unclear, somehow detached role of the horse is taken up by
the lion in Head in clouds. This “spatial image” consists of a big canvas
in threeparts onwhich sculpturalelements aremounted. Theygrow into
a sort of high relief, with the figure of the soldier who turns his back on
us and whois half immersedinto the surfaceof the canvas.Finally, with
the figure of the lion outside of the picture, the sculptural element turns
into full sculpture. However, other than in the previous installations,
the figure remains aesthetically and formally directly connected to the
image space of the work through the element of patterned fabric the
lion is standing on and which reappears in the canvas. When I speak
of the lion's “detached role” within the images-space, I speak of it with

Headincloudsinstallation,
foam,latex,acrylicpaint,
marker,fabric,canvas,
height:225cm,
width:270cm,
depth:180cm
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regard to content as well as on the structural level. Its detachment
enhances the ambiguousatmosphere in Mona'sworks between narration
and abstraction and stands for the lion's personification of the ongoing
actions in the scene behind him as well as for the animal figure taking
over the orchestrationof the imagespace, as Ialready mentioned before.
In this, we can compare Head in clouds withGate of heaven II from the
Stories Ilive byseries. Theartist takesup asimilar structureof theimage
space and composition, enhancing it beyond the surface of the canvas.
Yet another example for the close interconnectedness and continuity in
regard to method, narration and imagery in her oeuvre.
Headincloudsinstallation(detail)

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HeadincloudswallobjectI,
foam,latex,acrylicpaint,
marker,paper,canvas,
height:67cm,
width:75cm,
depth:32cm
HeadincloudswallobjectIII,
foam,latex,acrylicpaint,
marker,paper,canvas,
height:70cm,
width:77cm,
depth:34cm
However, the animal's own agency stays in the service of human
concerns, of social, political, cultural or personal matters, and of the
artist's narration. The sources of the animal imagery also point in this
direction: the horses, birds, monkeys and mythical creatures originate in
most cases from Persian miniatures, identifiable through their stylized
form and execution. The lion, while it appears in miniature painting, it
has also embodied the Iranian sovereign state and nation on the Iranian
flag for centuries, where it first appeared during Safavid rule in the
16 th century. Initially appearing as an image of the artist's cultural and
personal memory, the lion leaves its own image and memory to become
the “alter ego's” companion, and ultimately replaces her. In one of the
drawings of the series Stories I live by, Preparation, we can see the lion
in a picture within the picture, while the female figure stands alone in
the middleof acity-space. Theartist herselfdescribes itas “havingtaken
the lion out of the image on the wall”, setting it beside her “alter ego”.
StoriesIliveby-
Preparation,
crayon,marker,acrylicpaint
andcollageoncanvas,
60×70cm

Liononnewsgarden,
Foam,latex,acrylicpaint,
marker,fabric,canvas,
height:225cm,
width:270cm,
depth:180cm

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Liononnewsgarden
(detail)
LiononnewsgardensketchII,
crayon,marker,acrylicpaint
andcollageonpaper,
29,7x42cm
InLionon newsgarden (2014)the artistadopts thelion asembodiment of
theIraniannationinanironicgesture:Thefigureofthelionstandsalone.
The usual image-space in the background is reduced to the sculptural
element of a sun on the wall (also stemming from the former Iranian
flag, but we've already seen it in other pictures and installations), or
rather transferred to the ground on which the lion is standing. Here, the
artist painteda “garden”in thetraditional patterngol-o-bolbol onIranian
newspapers. A literary and decorative theme, gol-o-bolbol became most
popularduringtheSafavidperiod,beautifyingtextilluminations,ceramic
objects, furniture, etc. 4 In this regard, it beautifies the newspapers here,
or rather its news. Together with the sword fallen to the ground beside
the lion – the original figure of the lion on the flag is proudly holding
the sword – thework reveals itself asa critical comment tothe historical
and present state and development of the artist's home country, to the
multiple cultural andnational narratives, andto the ongoingswithin the
country as well as its perception elsewhere in the world.
LiononnewsgardensketchIII,
crayon,marker,acrylicpaint
andcollageonpaper,
29,7x42cm

About beauty
StoriesIliveby-
EncounterII,
oilandcollageoncanvas,
200×240cm
Thirdly, the specific structure of the picture and the image-space should
be outlined. Stories I live by are not merely paintings, but they are also
collages. This is particularly true of the large canvases in which collage
elements dominate the compositions. As in Farewell, they consist of
Iranian religious flags containing Persian writing and calligraphy in
bright colours, Persian ornament, and images of saints and mosques.
These structures – the religious flags, or what is left of them – are often
sited in the middle ground and serve as architectures, barriers, pictures
within the picture, and walls. In Encounter II a black flag with Persian
writing in blue, green, red, and orange enters the middle ground like a
barrier, an element foreign to the city-scene around the female figure,
arranged in a similar way as we have seen in Farewell. In Expectation,
the collage-elements form an architectural structure, an arcade of blue,
white, yellow and red floralornament. This arcade seems tolinger in the
air, opening the view to a geometrically ornamental painted structure
that often serves as decoration in mosques,as well as to a calligraphy in
red. Here, the geometrical pattern is disproportionately enlarged though,

as is the calligraphy.Another collage element isto be found inthe lower
part ofthe composition,arranged asif itwere acarpet onthe floorwhere
the lion rests. While the collages correspond to architectural forms and
structures, the spatial setting remains ambiguous and surreal. In Gate of
heaven II, the collage elements consist of huge white calligraphy framed
by floral ornament and an image of a mosque as well as framed with
flowers that serve as buildings, walls,and urban structures in the setting
of the picture. Soldiers and an Elysian rider populate the canvas and
move through this structure as if it were a city-like formation, a space
that continues to be uncertain, working against perspective and spatial
logic.
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Another prominent collage element that Mona uses are Persian shrouds:
InTriumph III, the background, earth, and sky consist of piecesof white
material,completelycoveredwithsmall,paleredwriting.Theearthwhere
a female figure kneels beside a dead horse is made of a russet fabric
with small floral patterns. Even the pennants above, linking the scene
in the front with the group of soldiers in the back, are made of religious
flags. Here, the collage elements do not constitute semi-architectural
structures, butthey neverthelessdominate thepicture andhelp fosterthe
spatial uncertainty and ambivalence seen in other works.
WhenlookingatHeadinclouds,aswellasatsomeyetunfinishedcollage
paintings in Mona's studio during my visit, both her mode of operation
and artistic approach becomes apparent: Parts of cloth applied to the
canvas areto becomestructural andarchitectural elementsof thepicture,

together with planes of colour that are to become background, horizon,
and sky. The artist composes the picture out of planes made of cloth,
religious flags,and ofcolour, whichset theground forthe colourscheme
and thus the atmosphere of the scene to follow. The same method and
approach applies to the installations and overall to the “spatial images”
as inHead inclouds, wherethe cloth,together withthe sculpturalfigure,
is taken outsideof the canvasand thus expandsthe composition beyond
the canvas. It becomes obvious that Mona's approach is not so much
led by the content and meaning, which the many cultural, political, and
social visual references would suggest, but by form. The composition
shouldbebalanced,thecoloursharmonized,theworkshavea“beautiful”
expression.
We have beauty and compositional harmony on the one side, and a
restrained,unsettlingnotionofviolenceanddeath,religiousdomination,
uncertainty, and halted movement on the other. The notion of beauty
refers to an idealistic understanding of art as an image of nature that
exceeds natural perfection. Not only are the beauty of line, figural
balance, and compositionessential, but alsoemotions, thoughts, andthe
allusions created in the observer by the beauty of the artwork, that is,
the notion of an ideal world. 5 While speaking of “beauty”, this notion
of representing an ideal world is included and does not contradict
the rather unsettling content of Mona's pictures. Paradoxically, the
beautiful composition accounts forthe spatial uncertainty: Thecarefully
composed planes and patterns mislead the figures, prohibit perspective,
impede movement, and ultimately, frustrate narration. There remain

notions and allusions of content, and the pictures are heavily loaded
with meaning that we cannot fully grasp. There is no end to the story;
the visual narration deceives us and turns us back to ourselves, to our
emotions and understandingsas viewers infront of thepictures. We stay
there, leftalone withan imaginaryworld thatis everythingbut idealistic.
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StoriesIliveby-Prospect,
crayon,marker,acrylicpaint
andcollageoncanvas,
60×70cm
Another notion of beauty is present in the calligraphic, ornamental and
miniature elements. When we speak of a “beautiful line”, it is meant
literally – one needs years of training to be able to execute these
techniques properly. Here, the notion of “beauty” is that ofa perfect line
andproportion,ofidealcolour,allinpraiseofGodandtherepresentation
of His creation. 6 However,the perfection ofrepresentation transported in
these elements does nothelp put in orderthe imaginary world inMona's
pictures:Byplacingbitsofminiaturehereandpiecesofcalligraphythere,
the artist tears apart the compositional wholeness of the miniature and
replaces divine order and beauty with chaos and anarchy. Further, the
bits and pieces play their role in the prevention of a complete narrative
and its understanding.

On cultural representation
This brings us to the last topic that I would like to discuss: the meaning
of the pictures in relation to the cultural contexts in which they are
perceived. We – the viewers here in Germany, the “Western” viewers, so
to say– getthe feelingthat wedon't fullygrasp thestory narratedin the
pictures becauseof ourlack ofknowledge aboutIranian culture.The fact
that we cannot read and understand Persian writing contributes to this
feeling. However, it is crucial to Mona's work that the writing does not
carry anymeaning, forIranians either.She carefullychanges, smearsand
covers the letters so that the words and sentences become meaningless
and the Persian writing pure ornament (despite being very small, almost
unreadable, and thus intended to represent a pattern, rather than a text;
the Arabic writing on the shrouds that she uses in some of her pictures
can be technically deciphered).
Withincriticalresearchandwritingoncontemporaryvisualartsfromthe
so-called Middle East, including art from Iran, the topic of using Arabic
and Persian writing has been discussed controversially. These writings
are notaccessible toa Westernaudience. Theyare obscuredto theviewer
and thus become “pure ornament”. Islamic ornament and everything
associated with it, the Arabesque in Western art history and art, is
closely linkedwith Orientalismand theOrientalist receptionand framing
of art – a context and mode of reception that has been and continues
to be criticized today. The “inaccessible” writing becomes ornament,
Arabesque, andis hencelinked toa diffusenotion ofan Oriental“other”. 7
This problematicaspect ofthe Westernreception ofcontemporary Middle

Eastern and Iranian art presupposes that the writing is accessible for a
Middle Eastern and Iranian audience, which means that it can be read
and beunderstood inlocal contextsand bylocal viewers– theguarantee
of an “authentic”and “Oriental” workof art. Butwhat happens whenthe
writing intentionallybecomes ornament,inaccessible evenfor anIranian
viewer?
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In order to come to a conclusion here, I will briefly refer to Mona's
journey to becoming an artist as well as to the context in which she
typically exhibitsher work.Mona studiedart whenshe cameto Germany
in 2000, and thus started her career as an artist in Germany. To date she
has notexhibited herwork inIran. Theusual contextin whichshe shows
her works are galleries and museums in Europe, mainly in Germany,
where the audience typicallyfires questions at herregarding the cultural
and political meaning. In contrast, when she once in a while meets an
audience that is actually from the region of her home country, the artist
can't help but noticing the viewer's familiarity with her imagery. She
ascribes this familiarity to a shared experience in which memory and
images come from a similar source. Is it her own fault then, when she
loads herwork withthese notionsand allusionsthat donot belongto the
German, European or North-American aesthetic and cultural context? It
is and yet it isn't.
While an Iranianviewer might withgreater ease beable to contextualize
and understand the single elements that her work brings together
(the miniature-elements, the ornamental patterns, the religious flags,

the shrouds), more easily grasp the moments to which she refers (the
manifestations, the historical images), and be able to allocate the urban
contexts (e.g., the city of Tehran), he or she is as excluded from the
narration as is the Western viewer and is left alone to deal with the
imagery inthe sameway. Herart raisesthe samequestions andtransmits
thesamenotionofspatialandpsychologicaluncertainty,thesamedream
and reality, and the same beauty of composition and lines interlaced
with the notion of danger and violence. Full insight is not granted, and
perhaps this becomes even more obvious – and more disturbing –for an
observer who understands the Persian writing and the cultural context.
Fromtheearlypaintingstothe“spatialimages”andinstallations,Mona's
manner of alluding to without revealing, of painting true to life while
stirring a sense of the surreal, of meticulously composing a harmonious
and even beautiful expression while infusing it with uncertainty and
danger, runs like a golden thread through her work. Earlier in this essay
I mention the importance of continuity in her oeuvre, visible in the way
she intertwines old and new work. She works and reworks her formal
approach and the world of her imagery.
Cover:Headincloudsinstallation,
wallobjectsIandII
(exhibitionview)

Quellen
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1 SeeTori,Luca/Sanders,Rebecca/Steinbrecher,Aline(eds.),Animali:TiereundFabelwesen
vonderAntikebiszurNeuzeit (exhibition catalogue), Zürich 2012; Aloi, Giovanni, Art&
Animals,London/NewYork2012;andFuhlbrügge,Heike,“LiebeundandereBeziehungen:
GrenzverwischungzwischenMenschundTier”,in:Textem,2008/05/23[http://www.textem.
de/1487.0.html,lastaccessed2014/11/07].
2 See Olbrich, Erhard, “Menschen und Tiere: unauflösbare Verbundenheit”, in: Tori [et al]
(eds.),pp.21-29;Bergmann,Jörg,“HaustierealskommunikativeRessourcen”,in:Kulturund
Alltag, ed. by Hans-Georg Soeffner, Sonderheft 6 der Zeitschrift SozialeWelt,Göttingen
1988,p.312(quotedin:Fuhlbrügge,2008).
3 For an early English translation see Keith-Falconer, I. G. N.,KalilahandDimnahorthe
fablesofBidpai,Cambridge 1885; for a detailed examination of the origins of the text, its
variousversionsanditstranslationsintoPersian,Arabic,andHebrew,seeDeBlois,François,
Burzoy‘sVoyagetoIndiaandtheOriginoftheBookofKalilahwaDimnah,London1990.
4 See Diba, Layla S., Gol O Bolbol, in: EncyclopaediaIranica, 2001/12/15 [http://www.
iranicaonline.org/articles/gol-o-bolbol,lastaccessed2015/05/24].
5 ForadetailedexaminationofJohannJoachimWinckelmann‘sidealofbeautyseeFranke,
Thomas,IdealeNaturauskontingenterErfahrung,Würzburg2005,especially pp.87ff.
6 See Grabar, Oleg,TheFormationofIslamicArt, New Haven / London, 1973, p. 78; and
Koloska, Hannelies, “Bildmagie zwischen Religion und Kunst. Eine Antwort auf Heike
Behrend”, in: Brombach, Ilka / Setton, Dirk / Temesvári, Cornelia (eds.),Ästhetisierung.Der
StreitumdasÄsthetischeinPolitik,ReligionundErkenntnis, Zürich, 2010, pp. 177-181, p.
180.
7 See Kittner, Alma-Elisa, “‚Nahe Ferne‘ – ‚ferne Nähe‘. Anmerkungen zu einem
orientalischen Topos in der zeitgenössischen Kunst”, in: Göckede, Regina / Karentzos,
Alexandra (eds.), DerOrient,dieFremde.PositionenzeitgenössischerKunstund Literatur,
Bielefeld2006,pp.139-163,pp.148ff.
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